The Yarmuk River is the largest tributary of the Jordan River. It runs in Jordan, Syria and Israel, and drains much of the Hauran plateau. Its main tributaries are the wadis of 'Allan and Ruqqad from the north, Ehreir and Zeizun from the east. Although the Yarmuk is narrow and shallow throughout its course, at its mouth it is nearly as wide as the Jordan, measuring thirty feet in breadth and five in depth. The once celebrated Matthew Bridge used to cross the Yarmuk at its confluence with the Jordan.
Sha'ar HaGolan is a kibbutz situated at the foot of the Golan Heights in the Jordan Valley area of north-eastern Israel. Located less than 1 km from the border with Jordan, it falls under the jurisdiction of Emek HaYarden Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 526.
Ghassulian refers to a culture and an archaeological stage dating to the Middle and Late Chalcolithic Period in the Southern Levant. Its type-site, Teleilat Ghassul, is located in the eastern Jordan Valley near the northern edge of the Dead Sea, in modern Jordan. It was excavated in 1929-1938 and in 1959–1960, by the Jesuits. Basil Hennessy dug at the site in 1967 and in 1975–1977, and Stephen Bourke in 1994–1999.
Hamadia is a kibbutz in the Beit She'an Valley, just north of Beit She'an in northern Israel. It belongs to the Valley of Springs Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 421.
Beit Hilkia is a Haredi moshav in central Israel. Located in the Shephelah near Gedera, it falls under the jurisdiction of Nahal Sorek Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 1,446.
Yosef Garfinkel is an Israeli archaeologist and academic. He is a professor of Prehistoric Archaeology and of Archaeology of the Biblical Period at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Tel Tsaf is an archaeological site located in the central Jordan Valley, south-east of Beit She'an. Tel Tsaf is dated to the Middle Chalcolithic a little-known period in the archaeology of the Levant, post-dating the Pottery Neolithic B phase of the Wadi Rabah Culture and pre-dating the Ghassulian of the Late Chalcolithic.
Tel Ali is an archaeological site located one mile south of the Sea of Galilee, in the central Jordan Valley, Israel. It has been excavated twice. First, during the years 1955–1959, Moshe Prausnitz conducted salvage excavations on behalf of the Israel Department of Antiquities. He published only preliminary reports and most of the excavation finds remained unstudied. Prausnitz uncovered a detailed sequence of occupation including: Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, Pre-Pottery Neolithic C, Pottery Neolithic B, Middle Chalcolithic and Late Chalcolithic (Ghassulian). However, at the time of excavation many of these phases had not yet been defined.
Gesher is an archaeological site located on the southern bank of Nahal Tavor, near kibbutz Gesher in the central Jordan Valley of Israel. It bears signs of occupation from two periods, the very early Neolithic and the Middle Bronze Age. The site was first excavated between 1986 and 1987 by Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and between 2002 and 2004 by Susan Cohen of Montana State University. The average of 4 radiocarbon dating results suggested inhabitation of the settlement around 8000 BC.
Abu Zurayq is an archaeological site located on the western edge of the Jezreel Valley and its transition to the Menashe Heights, next to Highway 66, between the modern kibbutzim of HaZore'a and Mishmar HaEmek.
Adrian Nigel Goring-Morris is a British-born archaeologist and a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.
Avi Gopher is an Israeli archaeologist. He is a professor at the University of Tel Aviv.
Munhata is an archaeological site 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) south of Lake Tiberias, Israel on the north bank and near the outlet of Nahal Tavor on a terrace 215 metres (705 ft) below sea level.
Moshe Stekelis was a Russian born archaeologist who excavated the Neolithic Yarmukian culture at Sha'ar HaGolan.
Moshe (Max) W. Prausnitz was an Israeli archaeologist who specialized in the prehistory field.
Ein el-Jarba is an Early Chalcolithic settlement ascribed to the Wadi Rabah culture, dating to the 6th millennium BC, located ca. 20 km south-east of Haifa, Israel in the Jezreel Valley. Excavation at the site has been renewed on behalf of Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
The Lodian culture or Jericho IX culture is a Pottery Neolithic archaeological culture of the Southern Levant dating from the first half of the 5th millennium BC, existing alongside the Yarmukian and Nizzanim cultures. The Lodian culture appears mainly in areas south of the territory of the Yarmukian culture, in the Shfela and the beginning of the Israeli coastal plain; the Judaean Mountains, and in the desert regions around the Dead Sea and south of it.
The Wadi Rabah culture is a Pottery Neolithic archaeological culture of the Southern Levant, dating to the middle of the 5th millennium BCE.
Sha'ar HaGolan is a Neolithic archaeological site near Kibbutz Sha'ar HaGolan in Israel. The type site of the Yarmukian culture, it is notable for the discovery of a significant number of artistic objects, as well as some of the earliest pottery in the Southern Levant.
The Nizzanim culture is a suggested archaeological culture from the Pottery Neolithic of the Southern Levant. It was identified in three sites spread over a small area on the southern coastal plain of modern Israel, including the type site of Nizzanim, Giv'at Haparsa, and Ziqim. The sites were studied by Ya'akov Olami, Felix Burian, Erich Friedman, Shmuel Yeivin, and Yosef Garfinkel. In those sites, there were no architectural remains but pits and floor levels with hearths. These findings seem to represent a pastoral-nomadic population, similar to the precedeeing population of Pre-Pottery Neolithic Ashkelon and the Qatifian culture. Garfinkel suggests that these settlement served as seasonal hunting or fishing campsites.
